Hitchcock's
chagrin over losing Vera Miles kept him from going wild over Kim Novak.
?
Novak
annoyed him, even before he met her. At her first wardrobe meeting with Edith
Head, the actress informed Head that she was disposed to wearing any color
"except gray" - which was the color of Madeleine's suit in the book
and film. Head recalled: "Either she [Novak] hadn't read the script, or
she had and wanted me to think she hadn't. I explained to her that Hitch paints
a picture in his films, that color is as important to him as it is to any
artist." Her assistant stuck "the sketch of the gray suit off to the
side so she wouldn't see it," while Head showed her "some of the
other designs."
?
After
Novak left, the costume designer called Hitchcock, "asking if that damn
suit had to be gray, and he explained to me that the simple gray suit and plain
hairstyle were very important, and represented the character's view of herself
in the first half of the film. The character would go through a psychological
change in the second half of the film, and would then wear more colorful
clothes to reflect the change. Even in a brief conversation, Hitch could
communicate complex ideas. He was telling me that women have more than one
tendency, a multiplicity of tastes, which can be clouded by the way they view
themselves at any particular moment.? He
wasn't about to lose that subtle but important concept."
?
"Handle
it, Edith," Hitchcock said, "I don't care what she wears as long as
it's a gray suit."
?
Coming
to lunch at Bellagio Road in late June, Novak persisted her with conditions.
She didn't care for Madeleine's prescribed hairstyle or color; she didn't wear
suits in real life or on camera - especially gray suits. Hitchcock didn't
blink. "Look, Miss Novak," he said, "you do your hair whatever
color you like, and you wear whatever you like, so long as it conforms to the
story requirements." (As Hitchcock later told Truffaut,"I used to
say, 'Listen. You do whatever you like; there's always the cutting-room floor.'
That stumps them. That's the end of that."
?
Sam
Taylor was also present for the Bellagio Road lunch. To Novak's consternation,
Hitchcock steered the discussion toward "everything except the film - art,
food, travel, wine," the writer remembered, "all the things he
thought she wouldn't know very much about. He succeeded in making her feel like
a helpless child, ignorant and untutored, and that's just what he wanted - to
break down her resistance. By the end of the afternoon he had her right where
he wanted her, docile and obedient and even a little confused."
?
At
her next meeting with Head, Novak seemed chastened. Brunet hair (for Judy) and
a gray suit were now acceptable. There was one point of principle she refused
to surrender, however: the buxom actress often preferred to go without a
brassiere in life, and wanted to do the same in some scenes on screen. Though
he preferred to dictate ladies' underwear too, that was all right by
Hitchcock.? (When, in their first
interview sessions, Francois Truffaut complimented Novak's "animal-like
sensuality" in the film, Hitchcock gave her credit for that, at
least-linking Truffaut's comment with her refusal to wear undergarments.
"As a matter of fact, she's particularly proud of that," he said.)
?
?
Patrick
McGilligan "Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light" (2003)
